Project description geothermal energy Lavey-les-Bains

The Swiss Seismological Service (SED) at ETH Zurich performs the baseline seismic monitoring of deep geothermal projects in canton Vaud for the canton's Direction Générale de l'Environnement (DGE) in the framework of the GEOEBST2020+ project, which is funded by the Federal Office of Energy (SFOE). As part of this project, three additional seismic stations were installed in 2019 in the Rhone Valley to monitor the geothermal project AGEPP near Lavey-les-Bains (Vaud). Seismic monitoring aims to improve knowledge about natural, local seismicity before the borehole is sunk (work will start in January 2022) and the plant becomes operational. The monitoring should also help detect earthquakes quickly and accurately to help clarify whether they are associated with the geothermal project or are instead of natural origin.

Alpine Geothermal Power Production (AGEPP) is planning a hydrothermal deep geothermal project with a borehole sunk to as far as 3,000 meters below the surface in Lavey-les-Bains (Vaud) in the Rhone Valley. AGEPP aims to extract natural geothermally heated water to generate electricity and heat for the local communities. A somewhat unique feature of the planned project is that the used geothermal water will not be pumped back into the underground. Instead, the cooled, purified thermal water will be piped to the Lavey hydroelectric power plant and where it is discharged into the River Rhone.

For further information on the geothermal project, see www.agepp.ch.